Ds, is the sound signiture on the ws-99 the same as the CKS1000? I have the 99s, and I have heard the 1000s. I was going to get the 1000s till I started to read this thread, now I want both the 1000s and the ws-99. But if they sound close to the same, might as well get the one that will rattle your head.

The CKS1000 is going to be a more refined version of your CKS99. The WS99 does have the full sized sound going for it. I have heard more bassier cans but the balance on these cans are what is interesting. Not too many bassy cans that have a forward mid section to balance that bass. These do..Since you already own the CKS99 I think going for the WS99 might be the way to go. Something a bit different.

Ok, I've had about two weeks of daily use out of my Aune T1 with the stock tube, and figured it was time for my review on this badboy with my WS99.

I've been in the world of Head-Fi for a little over a year, so please forgive me if I don't know all the flowery words used to describe what I am hearing.

Rigs

Prior Setup

Creative X-Fi --> PA2V2 --> WS99

New Setup

Aune T1 --> WS99.

Past Setups

Creative X-Fi --> Razer Carcharias

Creative X-Fi --> PA2V2 --> HFI-580

The old set up was fair considering I am a big EDM fan and computer gamer. It did everything I needed and it did it with much delight to my ears. I did not have any real complaints on the old setup to warrant a change such as this, however the price I got for my Aune T1 was too good to pass up. If I didn't like it, I figured I could have just sold it on here for minimal loss. Besides, I always wanted to try tubes :)

Music (EDM - Trance)

The Creative X-Fi and PA2V2 paired nicely with the WS99 (herein after referred to as the old setup), it handled everything I threw at it with ease. There was, however, noticible humming and hissing on certain tracks at certain volumes, this did not bother me in the least. It also did not kill the sound quality of poorer tracks as my HFI-580 had a habbit of doing. I found that for my type of music, the WS99 and Aune T1 really improved over the old setup. The music was fuller, sharper, crisper, clearer and cleaner. I did not hear any humming or hissing either. I felt that the Aune T1 was reproducing the music better than the Creative X-Fi did. The bass did not overshadow the mids and hearing Emma Hewitt's voice on "Forever is Ours" gave me goosebumps. This proved true from low quality MP3's all the way to FLAC. The Aune T1 enabled me to appreciate my favorite songs all over again. I found myself listening to tracks I havn't in a long time and saying out loud, "Ho-lee -Sh...".

Such tracks include:

Lick The Rainbow - Mord Fustang

Satellite - Darren Styles

Zocalo - Armin Van Buuren (feat. Gabriele & Dresden)

In and Out of Love - Armin Van Buuren (feat. Sharon den Adel)

Airwave- Rank 1

I did not find the highs cumbersome at all for any of my EDM tracks, and although they were more noticeable than the old setup this did not bother me. There is a noticeable difference going from the old setup to my current and I really like it, especially when it comes to Mids - I like them forward and slightly overshadowing everything else hence the WS99.

I use my computer for practically everything, it is my pride and joy and computer gaming plays a major role in my life - gaming at 1440P is sublime. That being said, I replayed two games on their most difficult setting in order to see how the Aune T1 and WS99 stacked up.

Note: Both games were originally played and being compared to my old setup

Games(Metro 2034 - Last Light)

Metro 2034 - Last Light is the sequel to Metro 2033 a horror first person shooter based on the novel Metro 2033 by Dmitry Gluhovsky. The game heavily plays upon your fear of the unknown and this is exacerbated by the music and ambient noise you hear as you creep and shoot your way through the Moscow metro. During this second playthrough, it seemed that I was hearing things quicker than I did the first time around on the old setup. Mind you, it has been a while since I first played this game and have played and beat atleast five other games since I decided to play this on the hardest setting. I recall saying to myself often, "I don't remember hearing that before..." This was most evident later in the game when you are making your way through a literal ghost town and you are hearing things that aren't there; growling, footsteps, whispering, children laughing and crying. I had no problem discerning where gunshots were coming from or where talking was coming from in order to position myself behind that person to take them out silently. The Aune T1 did an excellent job over my Creative X-Fi in this aspect (the proverbial go-to gaming soundcard).

Here is a link to what I am referring to, the fun starts at 23:00

Games (Bioshock Infinite)

BioShock Infinite is the third installment in the BioShock series, and though it is not part of the storyline of previous BioShock games, it does feature similar gameplay concepts and themes. The game has won over 85 awards, and next to The Last of Us is widely touted as the best game in the last few years. It's a first person story based shooter taking place in a fictional skycity where the populous worships the Founding Fathers of the USA as Gods. As stated above, I really felt I was hearing things faster - bullets, footsteps, talking, ect. It is hard to describe, it's not like I'm hearing at 1.5x the speed or something as what can be done on some sources, just faster - I can't really describe it. This is not a drawback in the slightest, andmade me really appreciate the crispness and fullness of the music, battles, and voice acting over the old setup. I felt much more drawn into the game this time around - hardest difficulty aside.

Conclusion

The Aune T1 has made me fall in love with everything computer audio related all over again. It gave me a new found appreciation for music and, in my opinion, blew the doors off my old setup. Everything just sounds better, not to mention trying all the different tubes to get a different sound boggles my mind. As a hardcore gamer and Trance Family member I highly endorse the Aune T1 for both and prefer it over the highly touted Creative X-Fi any day.